My Victorian historical romance Rebel Love (Book 2 in the Heart’s Temptation series) is free starting 8/7 through 8/11! If you don’t already own a copy, grab it now gratis. And if you do grab it, I’d be especially tickled if you’d take the time to leave a review on Amazon. Poor Rebel Love is like a wallflower on the outskirts of the ballroom, just waiting for someone to notice her. In other words, no reviews yet. Help a girl out and post a review?

But that’s not all, I say, feeling a bit like an infomercial. I’m teaming up with Love Kissed Book Bargains and some fellow authors as part of their August FREE for All & Giveaway!

Together, we are offering over 50 books…Most of them are FREE for a limited time. It’s just our way of thanking our loyal readers.

Even better, we’ve pooled our funds to offer an awesome giveaway! Enter to win a Kindle and Amazon Gift Cards just for subscribing to our newsletters or following us on social media.

My thanks in advance to all the tour hosts! Until next week, darlings, I’ll be dividing my scribbling time between Her Errant Earl and Restless Rake. I’m aiming to get 3 more historical romances out in 2017 and maintain my sanity all at the same time. Wish me luck!

Sweet Scandal, the little book that could, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! Release day is May 9th, (insert huge squee here) and yours truly could not be happier to finally load this book into the carriage and send it on its way to the ball. Helen and Levi’s story required a small mountain of research, and that pair led me on a merry chase on their way to happily ever after, I’ll tell you. I’m quite proud of them, however, and I hope you’ll fall in love with their story as much as I did.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I’m on Instagram. See exhibit, stage right. Plus, I have a newsletter. If you want release updates from moi—with the promise that I won’t clutter up your inbox with endless emails, naturellement—sign up right here.

In the mean time, what’s next? Well, I could use a nap. And a vacation. But sadly, neither of those two things seem likely. So, I’ve got 2 book tours in the works, and up next on my docket is re-releasing the first two books in my Wicked Husbands series, writing Book Five in the Heart’s Temptation series (hello, Earl of Ravenscroft lovers, this one is for you!), and writing Book Two in the Coastal Heat series. Just typing this makes me tired, but nobody likes a complainer, so…

Want an excerpt of Sweet Scandal? Of course you do, and I shall happily oblige:

Helen didn’t know if it was the dance or the champagne or the heat in the ballroom generated by the crush of guests, but as Mr. Storm led her from the floor at the quadrille’s completion, steeped in formal politeness, she felt suddenly faint and unsteady. He noticed instantly, for she felt a staying hand on her waist. Her vision blurred around the edges like a watercolor painting.

“Oh dear,” she said. “I fear I may swoon.”

It wasn’t like her. She was made of much sterner stuff, but she didn’t wish to embarrass herself. She needed some air. Her corset seemed too tight. Her entire body was flushed and heated. If she didn’t get away from this clamor at once, she didn’t know what would happen. It would have been the perfect moment for one of her sisters to accompany her to the retiring room where she could regain her composure as they gossiped about all the lords and ladies in attendance. But her sisters weren’t here, and she was alone with Mr. Storm in a sea of people.

How she missed Cleo, Tia, and Bo in that moment.

Everything sounded as if it were very far away, carried to her on a lush summer breeze. Maybe she should not have consumed quite so much champagne. She’d lost count of how many flutes she’d drained over the course of the ball. Good heavens, had it been more than five? A fresh wave of dizziness assailed her and she stumbled against his powerful, lean frame. He smelled divine, she thought fuzzily.

“Come,” he ordered, ushering her hastily away.

She collected her thoughts enough to protest. “Where are you taking me?”

He couldn’t simply escort her out of the ballroom and into a private room. Propriety certainly didn’t allow such a thing. She ought not to allow such a thing. Would not if it weren’t for the spinning of her head. As it stood, she was ineffectual as a fly at the moment.

“Hush.” He steered her around a tittering countess and a footman bearing a tray of champagne flutes.

“But—”

“My lady, hush.”

“Someone will see.”

“No one will notice. Everyone here is either far too inebriated or preoccupied.”

Casting a quick look about, he led her from the ballroom, down the hall, and into another chamber. As the door closed at their backs, stifling the cacophony of sound from the ballroom beyond, Helen realized they were in Jesse’s study. Alone. Still dizzied, she clutched Mr. Storm’s arm. “We are in our host’s private study. We cannot be here together.”

“Jesse won’t mind,” he assured her, guiding her to an overstuffed chair and easing her into it. He sank to his knees before her, his expression for once unguarded. “Are you unwell, my lady?”

He was concerned. A strange, new warmth stole over her. The world came back into crisp focus but her heart hammered furiously against her breast. She still felt off-kilter, almost as though she were out of her own skin, almost as if she were giddy.

Oh dear. He was before her like a knight of old, so striking and elegant, so unlike the arrogant stranger who had unceremoniously removed her from his offices the day they’d met. This Mr. Storm was different. Or maybe she was different. Or the night was different. Or she was hopelessly, thoroughly in her cups. She didn’t know which.

“I am fine,” she forced herself to say. “I daresay I sampled too much of the champagne this evening and that is all.”

“You don’t seem fine, my lady.” He frowned. His hands bracketed her skirts, near enough to her that he almost touched her, and the thought of those big hands of his on her made her quite weak. “Can I fetch you something? Some water, perhaps? Some ice?”

She licked lips that had suddenly gone dry. “There is nothing I need other than for you to return me to the ball. This is quite scandalous, sir. If someone should come upon us, it would cause us no end of trouble.”

“No one will come upon us. I’ve locked the door.”

His casual pronouncement did wicked things to her body that she was sure had everything to do with the blasted champagne. The door was locked. No one could disturb them or happen upon them. They were free to do what they chose.

Yes, she was in her cups alright, she had to be. There was no other reason for her to lean forward, set her palms upon Mr. Storm’s shoulders, and press her mouth to his. No other reason save for the fact that she had been thinking about him all day, about how he had touched and kissed her, how he had made her feel, how he had wanted her in his bed. She kissed him just for the feeling of his mouth upon hers once more, because she couldn’t help herself, because she couldn’t not.

I know I said I was a social media curmudgeon and all, but I’m trying to give social media another shot. I’ve got a shiny new Instagram account.

And, I even figured out how to install this handy, dandy widget on my blog that allows me to dazzle you with the brilliance of both my witty blog posts and my witty visual posts all at the same time. Mind blown, right?

I like Instagram because I enjoy taking pictures and because it feels like Twitter’s sophisticated older sister. You know, the smart one who always dresses perfectly and says all the right things and whose boyfriend looks like Jake Ryan but without the eighties hair? Also, it doesn’t make my brain hurt when I look at my feed the way Twitter does. Instagram is filled with pretty pictures and hearts, thought-provoking quotes and stacks of books neatly arranged with objet d’art and twigs and glittering things. You had me at the stacks of books, Instagram. Add the glitter, and it’s all over.

As I spend the next week finishing up Sweet Scandal so that I can send it off to my editor as scheduled—and generally being a miserable human being running on coffee and little sleep to achieve this feat—Instagram may be just the distraction I need to keep what remains of my sanity intact. That, and YouTube videos of phonograph demonstrations. And, of course, men with beards.

Happy weekend, darlings. The first books in each of my contemporary romance series will be free on Amazon this weekend. Reprieve and Loved Up are yours for zero bucks starting March 4, 2017 through the end of the day March 5th. Get them while they’re hot. And believe me, they’re hot.

What do you have to lose? Who doesn’t like free stuff? And free books? C’mon. Take the time to download, pretty please, and even better, give them a read. Better yet? Review them! Honest reviews are greatly appreciated and much swooned over by yours truly. Especially the three stars and up variety. Oops. Did I say that out loud?

I love romance novels. Of course, since I’m a romance author, this probably comes as no revelation. But it’s worth saying anyway.

I grew up on romance novels. As a teenager, I was allowed to read only sweet Regency novels that I devoured from the shelves of my local library’s Bookmobile each week. Still, my older sister’s bookshelves, lined with Kat Martin, Heather Graham, Johanna Lindsey, Lisa Kleypas, and the like, called to me. I wanted to know why I couldn’t read those novels, the kind with the covers with half-naked men holding swooning women in their arms (almost always with dubious hair, makeup, and prop choices, but who cares). What was inside those pages?

So I thieved my first romance novel from my sister’s collection—Sweet Vengeance by Kat Martin—and I never looked back. Yes, my mother eventually caught on. And yes, the parents of some of my friends also caught on, and some of them even confiscated the books I had happily supplied their daughters. (To this day, I’m still mourning my original copy of And One Wore Gray, which a friend’s step-mother robbed from her bedroom during one of her periodic raids. Yes, it’s about 17 years later and I’m still not over it—that’s how much I will always love Daniel Cameron. #BookBoyfriends)

I love romance novels. I always have, and I always will. In high school, before the days of the e-reader, I made homemade book jackets so that I could read in study hall unhampered by well-intentioned teachers. I tucked romance novels inside desks and read them during class. I hid them on my lap and in text books. Later on, I carried them in my purse and I read them in airplanes and on beaches. I stayed up till three in the morning just so that I could sigh with bliss and fall asleep knowing Emma and Prince Nikolas finally found their happily ever after. As a terrified mother-to-be trapped in a hospital bed trying to keep my twins from being born way too early, I went through 3 wonderful Sarah MacLean books.

I’m not entirely sure what it is about romance novels that makes me love them so much. Maybe it’s the steadfast knowledge that no matter what, the hero and the heroine will end up together where they belong. Maybe it’s the adventure of heading back to the Civil War or being romanced by a rakish duke. Maybe it’s that feeling I get when I read a truly awesome book and I’m wearing that sated I-just-read-the-best-romance smile, and my heart feels a little lighter and the world a tiny bit better of a place.

Whatever it is, all I know is that from the moment I started turning those pages years ago, I was hooked. And I still am.

Yes, I’m ready to put an Actual Month on the release date rather than a Vague Seasonal Guess, which is what I’ve been doing for the last little while. (Don’t worry, I’m never moving again, I swear!) So anyway, that means we’re heading in the right direction!

Levi and Helen are proving very fun for me to write. I’ve enjoyed where their story has taken me so far and I hope you’ll feel the same way when it finds its way into your hands a few months from now.

And along those lines, we have cover art, people. Have a gander at it. I think it’s wonderfully lovely. Until next time, happy reading, and I strongly encourage you to ogle a picture of Richard Armitage today if you haven’t already done so.

Here’s my confession: I’m not really a social media person. Actually, if you’ve ever looked at any of my social media accounts, this will not be a confession or a surprise. I try to love Twitter, really I do. There are some funny, clever people who are killing it on Twitter, and I wish I could be them. But sometimes I look at my feed and wonder what the point of it is. I think about tweeting something and then I delete it. And then I forget to look at Twitter at all for an entire month straight.

Facebook appeals to me more than Twitter—I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to. But I don’t like Facebook’s selective filtration of what I get to see in my news feed. (Why can’t I see it all in real time, Facebook? Rhetorical question—I know why.) And sometimes I feel like saying anything on Facebook is like yelling into the wind and hoping someone—anyone—will hear me.

Then there are the ‘likes’ that infect my newsfeed with clutter.

I liked one recipe page and suddenly all I could see was about 3000 easy dinners that Samantha Blogger was telling me she needs to have in her life. (Yes, that slow cooker soup looks great, but just between us, aren’t you a tiny bit too excited about it? And while we’re talking here, how do you possibly have enough time to make that many posts on your Facebook page IN ONE DAY? I’d like to know. Really.)

I want to like Pinterest because I have a minor obsession with historical dresses and men with beards. Yes, both minor obsessions, I swear. (Hello, Worth gowns! Hello, this guy!) But Pinterest always wants me to use the app on my iPad, and I don’t like the app, and it takes time to sort through all the claptrap I don’t care about, and honestly, I forget to look at Pinterest at all for two months straight and sometimes three. (And yes, I, a thirty-three-year-old woman in the year 2017, just used the word ‘claptrap’ outside of a historical romance novel. I remain unashamed.)

I think I tried Tumblr for about five minutes before I was like “oh look, ‘The Bachelor’ is on” and gave up.

Yeah, you’re getting the point by now. I can’t help it. I have all the things. I just don’t like them. I’m not sure if I will ever like them. Or use them the way one is supposed to use them. I haven’t tweeted since August and it’s January. I haven’t posted to Facebook since November. It’s not that I’ve been kidnapped and am being held for ransom in Antarctica or that I’ve somehow found a time machine and I’m off at a country house party wearing a fabulous silk gown, sipping wine, and ogling a duke who looks like Richard Armitage. For one thing, Mr. Scott would most certainly not approve of either scenario, and for another, they’re both equally highly unlikely.

Nope. I’m just a social media curmudgeon.

I don’t like it. But, like jogging, I’ll keep trying it every once in a while, hoping that something miraculous will happen and I’ll change my mind.

Oh, and one small update before I go for those inclined to care: work continues on Sweet Scandal. Still aiming for late spring 2017 release. Au revoir for now, darlings.

I blinked and now it’s December. Since August, a lot has happened. I moved, and that ate a giant hole in my writing time. Moving with twin toddlers and very little help is not something I recommend. I’d sooner run a marathon than do that again, and believe me when I say I view running a marathon as a severe and twisted punishment. Really. In fact, I’d rather be a guest at the red wedding on Game of Thrones than move again. Anyway, winter is coming, we’re all getting settled into our new digs, and I expect things to settle down. Seriously, they better settle the f- down.

If you’re the kind of person who read the first three books in the series and is now wondering where on earth the next book is, Book 4 in the Heart’s Temptation Series, Sweet Scandal, is still in progress. It now has a tentative release date of Spring 2017. But all is not lost. In the mean time, I’m also working on re-releasing all the historicals in my backlist this winter. The Wicked Husband Series books 1 and 2 are on their way just as soon as I can squeeze them into their corsets and send them back to the ball. Until then, darlings.

Summer is almost over, and with the cooler (and much welcome) winds of fall will come some more re-releases from yours truly. The next series slated for re-release is my contemporary romance series, Love’s Second Chance books 1-3. After that series, I’ll be re-releasing my historical romance series Wicked Husbands books 1-2, which is all about American heiresses and English rakes. (insert lusty sigh here for the English rakes)

Anyway, in the mean time, I’m still hard at work writing book #4 in my Heart’s Temptation series, Sweet Scandal. I’ve gotten many wonderful, encouraging emails from readers who are excited for this book, and you have no idea how happy that makes me! I was hoping for a fall release for Sweet Scandal, but a lot has happened in the last 2 months to derail my writing pace. Managing a day job, twin toddlers, and moving to a new house slowed me down more than I would have liked this summer, but I’m still shooting for a late, late fall release. I may shoot and miss, but—to steal a line out of this summer’s season of Big Brother— your girl’s going to give it her best try.